MESQUITE, Texas (October 14, 2016) — With the engine going south under the bonnet of his machine just over half of Friday’s feature event, Johnny Herrera was a man on a mission; parking his Mesilla Valley Transportation No. 45x in Victory Lane to open up the 43rd annual Devil’s Bowl Winter Nationals with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network.
Herrera’s third career National Tour triumph at the famed half-mile, the win puts Johnny at six victories on the season with the Lucas Oil ASCS.
Taking the lead with a high-side pass on Josh Baughman off the fourth turn on Lap 14, Herrera was the second to challenge Baughman during the A-Feature as the No. 17 was challenged early by Martin Edwards who ran the Lanny’s APCO No. 13 in honor of his grandfather, Lanny Edwards.
Going wheel to wheel through the third and fourth turns on Lap 2, the contact sent Edwards spinning. Dropping debris on the track in the process, Martin was sent to the tail.
With Herrera moving to second on the restart, it was a game of chase as the pair worked to traffic near the race’s half-way point.
“She started laying down right when I started racing with Baughman when I was running the bottom there, and it didn’t seem to hurt me at that point. I just kept running it and when that red came out, I just kept hoping it would take off again.”
Speaking of the red for Josh Baughman that came with 21 laps complete, the big question was whether or not the No. 45x would even start again. With a small fire erupting from the oil that now covered the brakes, the flames soon extinguished themselves.
“The only way I’m pulling off is if she blows up,” stated Herrera from the cockpit of the No. 45x at the time.
Stumbling and half running to the green, the engine finally cleaned out enough to get back to speed as Herrera restarted with a lapped car between himself and Aaron Reutzel. Unable to clear the slower car through the first two turns, it proved just enough to allow Herrera the advantage needed to hold onto the win.
“It didn’t take off very good at all,” explained Herrera. “Once I got it wound up, it came back but she’s definitely hurt right now, but we got the win. We’ll come back with a new bullet tomorrow and go again.”
Locking the No. 87 into the show, Aaron Reutzel had his hands full most of the race as well with the track every changing.
“I wasn’t expecting that one bit. Luckily I was able to the wing back and get a handle on it, but at the beginning, I thought I was just going to go backwards fast,” said Aaron. “It took about half the race to get it figured out, then my throttle was sticking the first part of the race as well. I don’t know if something got in it or what, but I just about ate the front stretch wall a few times. It made it hard to race people, but luckily it played out.”
Taking advantage of the late race restart, John Carney II sailed the Lubbock Wrecker Service No. 11x from sixth to the final podium step after nearly getting tangled up in Baughman’s flip.
“I was just glad I didn’t get caught up in that deal. He turned right around in front of me and I almost didn’t see him. He was backwards before I ever saw him, but on that restart, if they went low, I was going high or vice versa it didn’t matter.”
Also taking advantage of the restart was Sammy Swindell, who threaded the needle to take the final transfer into Saturday night. Matt Covington was one of the driver Sammy had to pass, and ended up completing the top-five.
Racing into the top-four just prior to the red, Blake Hahn slipped back to sixth with Danny Jennings advancing nine positions to seventh. Travis Rilat crossed eight with Wayne Johnson ninth. Zane Lawrence from 14th came up to round out the top-ten.
The opening night of the 43rd Devil’s Bowl Winter Nationals saw 47 drivers draw in. Split into six Heat races, wins went to John Carney II, Chance Morton, Danny Jennings, Johnny Herrera, Wayne Johnson, and Josh Baughman. With the number of cars greater than 40, Qualifiers were run. Travis Rilat, Martin Edwards, and Matt Covington all scored wins. Twin B-Mains went to Andy Shouse and Kade Morton.
Provisionals were utilized by Logan Forler and Kyle Bellm. The night’s regional provisional was awarded to Brandon Hanks.
The 43rd Devil’s Bowl continues on Saturday, October 15, 2016 with gates opening at 6:00 P.M. and racing at 8:30 P.M. (CDT). To pay tribute to Lanny Edwards, the track is asking everyone to wear red in his honor. For more information on the Devil’s Bowl Speedway, log onto http://www.devilsbowl.com.
For continued updates on the Lucas Oil ASCS presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network, log onto http://www.ascsracing.com.
Race Results:
ASCS National / ASCS Red River
Devil’s Bowl Speedway – Mesquite, Texas
43rd annual Winter Nationals – Night 1
Friday, October 14, 2016
Car Count: 47
ButlerBuilt Heat Races (Top 30 in Race Passing Points advance to Qualifiers on an 18 car invert)
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 11X-John Carney II, [2]; 2. 2X-Tucker Doughty, [1]; 3. 29-Travis Rilat, [4]; 4. 8M-Kade Morton, [5]; 5. 12-James Mosher, [7]; 6. 84-Brandon Hanks, [6]; 7. 12W-Dale Wester, [3]; 8. (DNF) 26M-Fred Mattox, [8]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 7M-Chance Morton, [2]; 2. 28-Jonathan Cornell, [1]; 3. 2-Mickey Walker, [3]; 4. 88-Scottie McDonald, [6]; 5. 17W-Harli White, [8]; 6. 2L-Logan Forler, [4]; 7. 1S-Joey Schmidt, [5]; 8. (DNF) 55-Brad Queen, [7]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 1J-Danny Jennings, [2]; 2. 95-Matt Covington, [1]; 3. 07-Michael Bookout, [3]; 4. 03-Joe Wood Jr, [6]; 5. 51-Caleb Martin, [7]; 6. 2K-Brandon Long, [8]; 7. 6-Kaden Taylor, [4]; 8. 7H-Brian Gramm, [5]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [2]; 2. 52-Blake Hahn, [5]; 3. 5J-Jamie Ball, [1]; 4. 76-Zane Lawrence, [7]; 5. 58-Gary Floyd, [4]; 6. 77C-C.J. Hulsey, [8]; 7. 98-Chad Koch, [3]; 8. 05M-Charles McManus, [6]
Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [1]; 2. 91-Kevin Ramey, [2]; 3. 27-Andy Shouse, [4]; 4. 86-Tony Bruce Jr, [3]; 5. 14K-Kyle Bellm, [6]; 6. 3-Raven Culp, [7]; 7. 20G-Jake Greider, [8]; 8. 17G-Skylar Gee, [5]
Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Josh Baughman, [1]; 2. 3S-Sammy Swindell, [3]; 3. 87-Aaron Reutzel, [5]; 4. 13-Martin Edwards, [7]; 5. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [4]; 6. 131-Royal Jones, [2]; 7. 77X-Alex Hill, [6]
Hoosier Tire Qualifiers (Top 16 in combined Passing Points advance to the A-Feature)
Qualifier 1 (8 Laps): 1. 29-Travis Rilat, [1]; 2. 17-Josh Baughman, [4]; 3. 2X-Tucker Doughty, [2]; 4. 52-Blake Hahn, [6]; 5. 76-Zane Lawrence, [3]; 6. 03-Joe Wood Jr, [7]; 7. 1J-Danny Jennings, [5]; 8. 14K-Kyle Bellm, [10]; 9. 12-James Mosher, [9]; 10. 07-Michael Bookout, [8]
Qualifier 2 (8 Laps): 1. 13-Martin Edwards, [3]; 2. 28-Jonathan Cornell, [2]; 3. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [5]; 4. 3S-Sammy Swindell, [4]; 5. 11X-John Carney II, [6]; 6. 27-Andy Shouse, [1]; 7. 8M-Kade Morton, [8]; 8. 17W-Harli White, [7]; 9. 51-Caleb Martin, [9]; 10. 2K-Brandon Long, [10]
Qualifier 3 (8 Laps): 1. 95-Matt Covington, [2]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel, [4]; 3. 88-Scottie McDonald, [1]; 4. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [5]; 5. 91-Kevin Ramey, [3]; 6. 2-Mickey Walker, [7]; 7. 86-Tony Bruce Jr, [9]; 8. 5J-Jamie Ball, [8]; 9. 77C-C.J. Hulsey, [10]; 10. (DNF) 7M-Chance Morton, [6]
BMRS B-Features (Top 3 finishers transfer to the tail of the A-Feature)
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 27-Andy Shouse, [2]; 2. 17W-Harli White, [4]; 3. 86-Tony Bruce Jr, [3]; 4. 5J-Jamie Ball, [5]; 5. 58-Gary Floyd, [6]; 6. 07-Michael Bookout, [7]; 7. 1S-Joey Schmidt, [10]; 8. 20G-Jake Greider, [8]; 9. 3-Raven Culp, [9]; 10. 26M-Fred Mattox, [12]; 11. 131-Royal Jones, [11]; 12. 17G-Skylar Gee, [14]; 13. 05M-Charles McManus, [13]; 14. (DNF) 03-Joe Wood Jr, [1]; (DNS) 12W-Dale Wester, ; (DNS) 51-Caleb Martin,
B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 8M-Kade Morton, [2]; 2. 2-Mickey Walker, [1]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [7]; 4. 12-James Mosher, [4]; 5. 2K-Brandon Long, [6]; 6. 14K-Kyle Bellm, [3]; 7. 84-Brandon Hanks, [8]; 8. 2L-Logan Forler, [9]; 9. 77C-C.J. Hulsey, [5]; 10. 77X-Alex Hill, [10]; 11. 6-Kaden Taylor, [11]; 12. (DNF) 7H-Brian Gramm, [12]; 13. (DNF) 98-Chad Koch, [14]; (DNS) 7M-Chance Morton, ; (DNS) 55-Brad Queen,
Protect the Harvest A-Feature (Top 4 lock into Saturday’s A-Feature)
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [3]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel, [4]; 3. 11X-John Carney II, [10]; 4. 3S-Sammy Swindell, [11]; 5. 95-Matt Covington, [6]; 6. 52-Blake Hahn, [5]; 7. 1J-Danny Jennings, [16]; 8. 29-Travis Rilat, [7]; 9. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [9]; 10. 76-Zane Lawrence, [14]; 11. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [22]; 12. 28-Jonathan Cornell, [8]; 13. 86-Tony Bruce Jr, [21]; 14. 91-Kevin Ramey, [15]; 15. 14K-Kyle Bellm, [24]; 16. 88-Scottie McDonald, [13]; 17. 8M-Kade Morton, [18]; 18. (DNF) 17-Josh Baughman, [2]; 19. (DNF) 2L-Logan Forler, [23]; 20. (DNF) 27-Andy Shouse, [17]; 21. (DNF) 13-Martin Edwards, [1]; 22. (DNF) 2X-Tucker Doughty, [12]; 23. (DNF) 2-Mickey Walker, [20]; 24. (DNF) 84-Brandon Hanks, [25]; 25. (DNF) 17W-Harli White, [19]
Lap Leader(s): Josh Baughman 1-13; Johnny Herrera 14-25
FSR High Point Driver: Martin Edwards
Hard Charger: Sam Hafertepe, Jr. +11
Provisional(s): Logan Forler; Kyle Bellm; Brandon Hanks (Regional)
2016 ASCS National Driver Standings (Top 10): 1. Sam Hafertepe, Jr. 4,411; 2. Johnny Herrera 4,208; 3. Wayne Johnson 4,014; 4. Blake Hahn 3,927; 5. Matt Covington 3,816; 6. Logan Forler 3,751; 7. Aaron Reutzel 3,631; 8. Seth Bergman 3,470; 9. Josh Baughman 2,880; 10. Kyle Bellm 2,681;